


Can I Keep You?

by Qoe_Indominus



Category: Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Mortal Instruments (Movies)
Genre: Arrows can't beat Scales, Clary/Jace is mentioned only, Dragon!Magnus, Guards are useless, M/M, Prequel Work, Prince!Alec, Royalty!Lightwoods, There's nudity near the end
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-09
Updated: 2016-04-09
Packaged: 2018-06-01 06:22:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6504316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qoe_Indominus/pseuds/Qoe_Indominus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prequel to: Fantastical Beasts (Hide Among Us)</p><p>In June/July time, a purple dragon was spotted. Since then, the royal family set up a Dragon Investigation Team to make sure the dragon was watched and to keep shenanigans at bay. Two months later, it gets worse and Alexander convinces his parents to let him out the castle grounds so he can do something about this dragon problem.</p><p>You don't need to have read the sequel, or to read this before the sequel. The stories work on their own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can I Keep You?

**Author's Note:**

> For all the fans who appreciate Dragon!Magnus. I underestimated the need for this form the first time, and you encouraged this prequel.

Prince Alexander, if you asked him, would say he never minded dragons. That is, he had never seen a dragon in his Kingdom until he was nearing the day of his eighteenth birthday. The day in question was two months away when he saw his first dragon. He saw the mighty purple beast from his bedroom window. The setting sun was pink through his window, and the shadow of the dragon had interrupted the brightness and caught his attention. He didn't mention the dragon - there was no need while its intentions were unknown; there was no need to cause mass panic in the Kingdom if the dragon was passing by. Three days later, two sheep had gone missing; every three days thereafter two sheep went missing by night from the different farms, and Alexander was asked to help in the tracking of this dragon. So far, they had a map of the kingdom, and the farms with incidents marked against them. The dragon never seemed to hunt out of a twenty mile radius from the castle itself, and if it was a simple dragon then the High Prince would bet his inheritance that it would choose a cave for a lair. Despite being on the 'Dragon Party' as the group had been dubbed, Alexander had never been outside on a scouting mission for the dragon itself. That mission was left to the guards, who sometimes didn't return and sometimes they did, and when they did they complained about how all they could smell was burning wood constantly and how the scars were always somewhere they couldn't show them off. What was with people thinking that scars weren't worth it if they couldn't show them off?

"Scars are so cool, and are the new thing right now," Prince Jace had told him, though the boy lacked a claim to the throne through adoption, "Clary would not be able to keep her hands off me if I had one." Right now, the golden haired prince was lounging on one of the armchairs in the study where Alec had set up shop with the Dragon Map, distracting his dark haired counterpart from his mission and fully enjoying it. Jace wasn't on the Dragon Party, something about having sneaked his girlfriend in so often in the past that he was grounded from joining some of the fun. The older prince wondered if annoying him was Jace's way of letting out his frustration against his grounding. It didn't help that the dragon activity was increasing. Since the week before, people had started going missing, and the Kingdom had lost a forest to a fire, and buildings to irregular earthquakes. The fire was the more frightening experience for Alec. There was no way for humans to stop the forest fire if it spread to the town, but it had magically disappeared before it reached civilisation.

"So, you want a big cut along your face?" Alec asked with a frown. Simply because he accepted his brother's choice of romantic partners didn't mean he liked dealing with lovey-dovey romance chat. 

"Not my face!" Jace sat up dramatically, running both hands down his face as he looked horrified at Alec, "Down my arm though. A summer tunic would show that off well. Or my chest, so she can stroke it when I take my tunic off and- did you just throw your pen at me?" Jace picked the pen up from the floor, running his finger along the brown pheasant feather that decorated the top. It stopped him from talking at least, which Alec was thankful for. 

"You do know, shocking as it may be, that it hurts to be given a scar?" Isabelle asked, third in line to the throne to their kid brother. Izzy was on the Dragon Party, but she didn't seem interested in working to find the dragon particularly. It hadn't affected her life dramatically, though Alec had pointed out that if it kept eating food when Winter rolled on, then the Kindgom would struggle for food, and Izzy had actually helped to complete some of the mapping after that. The princess took the feathered pen from Jace, and handed it back to her brother so he could continue marking the morning's report on the parchment. 

"No pain, no gain," Jace grinned, standing from his chair and glancing over the map. Alec noticed the small grin that crept onto his face. Here and there were small drawings - a horse, a dragon itself, a whale tail in the ocean. When Clary had been present while the Lightwood siblings were working, she had added her own touch to the map. The High Prince had yelped in horror when he'd seen her draw the eagle first, but the pictures definitely added a little something to the map. Impratical, but pretty to look at.

"Whatever, Jace. This is the fourth night at Pandemonium Farm in as many weeks. No other farm has this," the High Prince examined the map closely, and noticing that the other farms had a maximum of two visits in the near two months it had been living in the Kingdom. If there had been a farm with three visits, then Alec may have abandoned this theory, but his instincts were screaming that something was interesting about this farm. "I'll see if I can convince our parents to let me take a group, and let me scout. I'll know what to look for."

"Alec, we've never gone against a dragon," Isabelle told him. He gave her a weak smile in response, understanding the worry she was expressing, but that his mind was already planning a speech in order to convince his parents to let him out on a dragon scout. It wouldn't be his first time on horseback outside the castle, just his first with a dragon in the area.

"I need to do this. If I do this - Izzy, I'm turning eighteen in a week. I'll be able to really be called a King when I take the throne, but I don't feel ready."

"Don't push yourself, promise? You'll be a great leader, you already are, you don't need a dragon to battle to prove that."

It was shortly after this conversation that there was a knock on the door, and Alec was informed that his father was calling for him.

\---

Actually, both his parents had called for him. 

"Son, for your birthday, your father and I have found you a suitable wife. Lydia will be just wonderful for you, and the friendship between our Kingdoms will be strengthened!" His mother's smile stretched from ear to ear, and Alec wouldn't lie to himself that he was a little scared. Marriage was quite high on the list of Things His Highness Alexander Isn't Ready For, and he wasn't sure if he ever would be.

"How long until the wedding day?" He asked, hoping for some solace in how long he'd have of being single.

"Why, we thought your birthday would be perfect!" His mother gleefully shot down all hope remaining and his planned speech broke down as he rose from his seat.

"Then, for my birthday, I'd also like to lead a scouting group for the dragon. Today."

\---

Of course, his parents had hated the idea. What would people say if they let the first in line to the throne out of the castle and into danger where he could be killed? Alec explained the situation twice, and made sure to mention he wouldn't ask for anything else for his eighteenth - emphasis on the eighteen - if he was allowed to take four men out to the farm. There was a compromise. He had to follow the direct path to the farm, and that path only. And he was to take seven men, not four, and all were chosen by his parents, and to take his bow and quiver for protection. And he had to leave the map behind so he wouldn't feel the urge to investigate any further. And to take care of himself and not talk to strangers. Between each rule he'd been taking steps towards the door out from the throne room, stopping at each point his parents decided to add to the already growing list. He barely heard them tell him to make sure he didn't wear his best boots as he would need them for his wedding.

Alec wasn't sure of the names of the men his parents had picked out for him - they wouldn't have been the High Prince's choice for a scouting group. His parents may have said something to each of them too, as no one spoke while they made their trip down to the farm, and the self-appointed leader insisted on starting with a gallop to cover as much ground as possible initially, an idea which Alec refused. At the horses' natural pace, it would take ninety minutes, which didn't seem so long to Alec, who was also aware that if they did encounter the dragon then it would be ideal if the horses had some energy to use in such a situation. The prince wasn't thankful for the silence. With his mind having nothing to do, it wandered to his upcoming birthday, and anxiety gripped him as he remembered his marriage. Arranged marriages were well and good, but there were a few things about himself that he hadn't told his parents yet, but than marriage was always about honour with royalty. He felt envious for royals who did fall in love and marry who they wanted. 

"Hold!" The leader's voice grabbed his attention, and his blue eyes settled on the farm ahead of them. But that wasn't what made him place a nervous order. The horses neighed, and stopped, and everyone's hands tightened on their reigns as they prepared for what the horses could sense. The ground shook, and one unlucky rider was thrown off his horse - no one tried to stop the spooked beast, and for a reason. "That was worse than what we've experienced at the castle."

"Then, the dragon is close?" Alexander asked, glancing around as though expecting the dragon to burst out of the trees at the side, or to come stomping across the fields of wheat on the other side. He took in a breath, and then inhaled more deeply. "I smell burning."

"Damn it. We must turn back!" The leader turned his horse around, and galloped past the other six men to make his way back to the castle. He was followed by one other guard, but Alexander and the rest remained. 

"It's okay. I need to head to the farm. If the dragon shows then-" A bonechilling growl interrupted him, drowning out the last of his words and forcing him into a silence. Alexander again looked around, his blue eyes wide in the horror that he could hear but not see the threat. If it wasn't for one of the guards screaming that it was above them, he wouldn't have looked up. But he did, and urged his horse to gallop towards the farm before the dragon could land on the group. One guard was unfortunate, and Alec swore he could hear the crunch of bones underneath the dragon's talons. The beast roared again, and Alec's own horse was spooked by the change in the tone of the growl. It reared up, and the prince fell from his saddle. His back hit the ground mercilessly, and he gasped as stone hit his spine. With a moan of pain he pushed himself onto his side first, then to his knees to stand up from there. 

"Your Highness, please, run!" The guards stood between him and the red dragon, acting as his shields in the duty of their job, and Alec pitied and mentally thanked them. He turned, and forced his legs to run as fast as they could towards the farm house, the only place of safety his mind could supply while the gears worked in his head to form plans and analyse the situation and - red dragon? No, no, the dragon was purple. Alec had seen it two months ago and he knew it was purple.

He stopped running, and turned back to where the gigantic beast was. His guards were either laying on the floor in one piece, or more, and an arm hung from the dragon's fangs. It eyes were focused on him, and it advanced on him. He pulled his bow from his shoulders and retrieved an arrow from his quiver. He pulled back, and released, and watched as the arrow bounced off red scale. His shoulders sagged at the dismay of the ineffective attack, and began to take backward steps, not daring to take his eyes off the dragon. The red beast kept it watch on him too, predator focused on prey so intently that it was a surprise to both when a purple blur knocked into the dragon's side. Alec wasted no time in dashing to the farm house again, letting dragon take on dragon while he saved himself. 

"Excuse me!" He called out as he opened the door, and began to look around the downstairs of the house. It smelled freshly of heated meat, suggesting to him that the inhabitants had eaten that morning, but he wouldn't be surprised if the appearance of the dragon just now had caused them to run out the back. With no response, he knelt under a window at the front, and peeked out at the bottom. The two dragons seemed to be matched in size, though the purple dragon has larger wings which it spread out to intimidate the red. Red had unfurled his wings, but Alec had started looking in time to watch the red fold them again, and begin to back off. The purple snapped his mouth and stomped his front feet on the ground, creating minor earth shakes, but didn't appear to attack the red further. His hand slipped, and he whispered a curse as his finger began to sting. He looked down at it for a second to register the splinter embedded in his skin, then looked up. The red had disappeared, and the purple was now making its way to the farm house. The prince shuffled away from the window, standing up to run when he was out of view from the window, and tried to calculate how much time he had. His mind wouldn't cooperate, too frightened to deal with reasonable actions when there was a stronger dragon coming for him. He yelped at the realisation of his uselessness, and crawled under the kitchen table. He turned over, sitting under it and supporting his body weight on one elbow while he used his teeth to pull out the splinter from his free hand. a small droplet of blood appeared, but he ignored it as a bang shook the house. He peeked out, but his position under the table meant he couldn't see anything happen in the front room. He held his breath, listening closely as human-sounding footsteps began to sound closer and closer. Two bare feet attached to bare legs appeared in the kitchen doorway, but Alec refused to call out to even a human in case the dragon outside would hear, never mind hadnt this stranger noticed the purple beast outside? It had to be the family wacko left behind when the farmer and his family ran. The feet walked up the table and stopped halfway. The pause in the air lasted almost an eternity for Alexander, who believed he could hear something that - was that a sniff? Was this whack job sniffing him out? Suddenley, the table was blown against the opposite wall, and Alec yelped at the power the table had been thrown with. 

"Who are you?" The stranger asked in an enchanted tone, drawing the prince's attention from the wooden and damaged table to the owner of the voice. The stranger wasn't just naked around the ankle department; at the sight of the fully nude male, Alec's eyes fluttered before his brain gave up on the day and shut down before he could feel the impact of his head against the kitchen floor.

**Author's Note:**

> I do apologise for any errors in this. It's un-beta'd. And for ending the chapter on a "let's make him pass out" ending.
> 
> Yes, I'm following the Male over Female rule for hiers. So, Alexander is the heir, then Max before Isabelle. Because I think the Lightwoods would possibly stick to old-fashioned rules like that. Personally, I'm all for equality but it just seemed the better way for the story. 
> 
> The Red Dragon is another Warlock but I don't want to name him until I'm 10000% I won't get comments for spoiling the books about it.


End file.
